September 5: Joe Shults

You can hunt the world you want, or the world that exists. Joe chose the latter and as a result, put over 162 inches of velvet on the ground.

He’d been watching this deer come out into a bean field on a friend’s Kentucky farm and had him patterned pretty well. The buck would come out to feed in the evening and then would head back into the timber in the morning to bed down. The plan was to hunt the field and catch him coming to eat before sundown.

The problem was, on September 5th, the day of the hunt, the westerly wind he needed wasn’t there. Instead, he got an east-southeast wind. On the fly, Joe had to completely flip his game plan on its head. The evening field sit turned into a morning timber setup.

The day started out a crisp 53 degrees and sure enough, this velvet monster came ambling along towards Joe’s stand. At 22 yards, Joe came to full draw with his PSE Decree and the Ragefinished the job.

In his mind, Joe had a vision of how this hunt would play out, but he’s experienced enough to know that conditions dictate tactics. His flexibility and willingness to invert his game plan is the reason he notched his tag so early in the season.